The finished paddy fields. I found some green garden twine (string) for 99p in Wilkinsons, great for using as the rice, saves having to paint it, different lengths some in small clumps for younger growth. Glued in place with PVA. Then dry brushed with some very bright green. The water is painted using Humbrol gloss enamel paint to give a gloss reflective finish. I've also added some wooden work ways over a couple of the sections of the paddys. Double click on the pictures for bigger versions.
A selection of WIP picture of my paddy fields, the top picture shows the start of the process after the field depressions have been cut out. The white materiel is a polystyrene base from a pizza, nice and uniform 3-4 mm in depth, some areas are built up with multiple layers to create slightly raised areas of ground. The base is my usual black art board. The pizza base is glued onto the art board using PVA as a solid sheet. Then the fields are drawn on in black felt pen and cut out with a new scalpel blade. The use of the pizza base helps to prevent most of the warping of the art board which would happen with a more water based technique, such as the use of wall filler. Next I use filler to skim over the polystyrene to take of any hard edges and soften the contours to look more naturalistic, then cover with PVA and sand to texture the ground. More pictures to follow as I progress with these. Click on the pictures for bigger versions.
